It's Just Another Love Song
by Junsui Kegasu
Summary: In which there are too many lyrics to fit just one scenario [AkuRoku drabblefest. Rating subject to change]
1. Interchangeable

_001 – Interchangeable_

In human relationships, there was a set hierarchy of dominance. In human relationships, this hierarchy is stable and thus never changes. In human relationships, things weren't nearly as catastrophic.

In Nobody relationships, nothing was supposed to happen. Like the beings partaking in such forbidden acts, it did not truly exist, and thus, there was chaos. Nothing stayed the same for longer than two nights at a time.

Axel was often as fiery as his personality in bed, with the stamina to match a forest fire and the will to dominate as fierce as one, too. He left trails of burning bruises down the throat of his soft-skinned prey just to let the rest of that damned Organization that Number Thirteen belonged to _him_ and him alone. Roxas never protested, though whether that was because he could or not, Axel was never sure. He never asked. Sometimes, though, the remains of emotions seemed to peel away his defenses and leave him shivering, needy, and naked, clinging to Roxas like one would cling to a buoy in the middle of the ocean. Roxas' eyes were like the ocean and Axel would get lost, drown drown drown until he found the buoy.

Sometimes, Roxas was the wide-eyed mess of innocent dark-light he had been when Axel found him, naked and angelic in the middle of a world where the rain never stopped falling. He was dependant on his red-haired superior, and Axel soaked up every drop of those oceans – perhaps his strongest connection with humanity. Other times, his need for _control_ over something, anything, threw him into a fit of dominance, but Axel never minded. Axel would never care so long as the thin, lanky body in that awkward phase of puberty was pressed flush against him and he could pretend there was a heartbeat.

And as he watched those thin hips with not nearly as much definition as his own sway away from him for the final time, Axel finally realized that they would always be interchangeable, and there was nothing he could have done to prevent it.

-

_346 words_


	2. Intangible

_002 - Intangible_

* * *

Children in the midst of discovering the world around them have an infatuation with trying to touch the light. They reach out towards the softly glowing warmth, only to find that as soon as their hands are in its path, a shadow is cast and the whole effect is slightly diminished. 

Fire, as a fact, emanates light. The light wraps itself around and through the soft flames and it is perfect harmony. If one were to try and take light from fire, not only would they be burned, but also if they succeeded, the only result would be a smoldering pile of ashes.

In theory, this means that the fire can touch the light without dimming it. In actuality, this is wrong.

Axel was far from being a child, and yet he was infatuated with the light - possibly because being one of the few existences who could not choose a side but lived in the darkness, it was a pupil-shrinking rarity that he reveled in. The few times he was sent to a world containing nothing but denizens of that purity were the few times that he smiled.

And then there was Roxas. A version of Sora, really, with the same bright eyes and the same curious innocence, but bleached with the emotions rubbed out. Snuffed out. And yet he shone with radiance so beautiful and exciting, Axel could hardly resist. the one time he did reach forward and touch him (a pat on the head) electricity had jolted through his arm and down his spine and Axel just felt so _alive_... But the look in Roxas's eyes had darkened with the barest traces on malice. The room had gone dark. It was a silent message.

Light is not meant to be touched. The light is intangible, even to the fire. But as soon as it left, the fire waned and then died in a smoldering pit of nonexistant ashes.

* * *

_320 words_


	3. Chaste

_003 – Chaste_

--

When Axel had decided to just get it over with and kiss Roxas, having convinced him that if he rejected him, he would not be able to feel it anywise, a kiss evolved and somehow migrated from in the doorway of Roxas's room to his bed, Axel between his legs.

A lot of things were fuzzy in the redhead's memory, but that night was most certainly not one of them. He could still picture the bizarre innocence blazing in the blonde's eyes and his lips murmuring questions, murmuring his name – _his­_ name – with a breathy moan. He had been there for nearly six months, and yet here he lay, still so chaste and untouched beneath him.

Axel almost couldn't go through with it. He told this to Roxas, told him that if he did more, he might explode. All Roxas managed to say back, eyes brightening just a little more, was "There's more?" And suddenly, Axel didn't feel all that bad about making him his.

--

_161 Words_

_

* * *

Inspiration: _When my role-play Roxas lost his virginity, he _did_ turn to Axel and ask if there was more. We joke on hime for it all the time. 


	4. Rules

_004 – Rules_

--

As the new member of the group, Roxas was consistently one to actually obey the rules set down by the Organization – even the little ones that most people overlooked. It was a trend in new members to anything, after all. Sit in order, go to bed and lights out at the bell (for there were no clocks), shower last - you have no seniority; he had them all committed to memory (he refused to say "memorized".)

There was one rule that, when he had heard it, he had not thought much of. Evidently it went hand in hand with the rule "try not to fraternize with VIII", but he had never thought about it much because, well, he never thought he would end up breaking the rule it stemmed off of in the first place.

He only thought of it as he walked the streets of The World That Never Was, sticky wetness that he tried to say was the rain staining his cheeks, burning them in confused non-emotions – the ones both he and Axel had felt between the sheets.

"Don't play with fire; you're bound to get burned."

--

_188 Words_


	5. Ironic

_005 - Ironic_

--

Roxas was afraid of the dark - afraid of the portals that grabbed him and sucked him to other places, afraid of the black enveloping his room as soon as the lights dimmed, just afraid of the dark. The fact that his element was light had nothing to do with it - his very presence, after all, did not make the nothingness appear any brighter.

The darkness was only bearable so long as Axel (his flame, his warmth, his _friend_) was in the room with him, lean arms wrapped tight around his frame and callused hands stroking his hair. "Ironic," he would whisper. "But that's okay." And just before the blonde would slip off into gracious sleep, warm lips would brush his forehead and linger, hot breathing fluttering a silvery tuft of hair. Then the dark was okay.

Roxas was beginning to think he was afraid of the dark only because he had Axel to make it a little better.

--

_158 Words_

_

* * *

Inspiration: _

Walking down the dark staircase as I went outside to the bus stop. I, too, am afraid of the dark still e.e; Also, I told the people on DA that the second paragraph deserved fanart and it got some, which made me happy as hell. Thanks be to my cousin (more of her work can be found at kiyokushitaka(dot)deviantart(dot)com): 

http/ i95(dot)photobucket(dot)com / albums / l140 / yumemirujin / My 20 Art-DA / 4rosie(dot)jpg

Tell me if that link is wrong n.n


	6. Provoke

_006 - Provoke_

Lightning flashed dangerously, and before it could dissipate entirely, the thunder boomed behind it. It was close, possibly in The Brink of Despair. It was frightening, it was loud, it was mesmerizing, and he couldn't tear his eyes away from the storm.

It stormed often in The World That Never Was, but never quite this violently. Roxas had to wonder what could've provoked it, this magnificent downpour that left his face pressed against the glass of one of the few windows of the castle.

"And that, kid, is why you don't piss off Demyx and Larxene at the same time. Got it memorized?" Axel murmured into the back of his head, nuzzling soft curls.

The best part of this storm was Axel's arms around him from behind, his own personal heating blanket to watch the storm in. He would have to use all the hot water more often.

_151 Words

* * *

_

...JK IS VERY SORRY FOR SPAMMING EVERYONE WITH 4 CHAPTERS AT ONCE. She totally kept forgetting to post what she had here because she posts these also on DeviantArt and LiveJournal! It won't happen again! 


	7. Three

_007 - Three_

* * *

Three words were stuck in his throat that day – that week, that month, that entire _year_ – and no matter how many times he swallowed they never seemed to be able to surface. It was worse yet, as he watched the light flit ever farther away from him, leaving the only illumination in Memory's Skyscraper to be the disgustingly fake florescent lamps that could never banish anything but the penumbra of a world that close to the darkness – a world trapped that far in limbo; a world that never was. 

"No one would miss me," Roxas said.

_I love you_, his mind shouted, loud and clear as his throat couldn't be.

"I would," he whispered helplessly as the dark portal swallowed his light whole. As soon as he was gone, everything got darker and he slammed his fist into the wall.

"I LOVE YOU!"

The words were no longer stuck, but he was just as hollow as ever.

* * *

157 Words 


	8. Memory

_008 – Memories_

--

Memory's Skyscraper was never referred to as such. Memory's Skyscraper was merely "the skyscraper". No one paid much attention to that part of the city, preferring to skip past the abundances of heartless and warp to the place they needed to be. Unless they were on patrol duty, it was practically no man's land.

Axel had started going to the skyscraper whenever he followed Roxas around on his numerous missions to release hearts. It was a great place to go for such tedious business, and Axel usually watched from a distance, sitting on the steps of the huge tower. He loved watching the boy move, his movement fluid and his fatal attacks graceful. Roxas knew that he did it. He didn't know _why_ he did it, much like he didn't know why they did what they did when everyone else was asleep, and why that always felt so damn good, sparked something deep in his emotionless chest.

They had both been feeling poetic when the name "Memory's Skyscraper" came about. Roxas had finished wiping out heartless as fast as they could be generated, and they sat on the steps together, staring up at the broken-looking sky that must have mirrored their broken-feeling souls. Their fingers were brushing, something so gentle and yet so sensual as the feelings at "night".

"Does this place have a name?" Roxas had asked, still so new and still so innocent to some of the workings of the world.

"…Memory's Skyscraper," Axel told him after a pause. "That's what this place is called." He got up and summoned a chakram, rushing over to the wall of the building, and started scratching something into it. Roxas heard the noises and was also perplexed at his friend's peculiar behavior, so he pulled himself to his feet and went over to investigate. Axel had finished as quickly as he started and backed down, smirking.

On the wall, fresh and deep marks were scratched in crude handwriting. Axel pointed to it, still smirking with something stirring in his eyes.

_VIII _empty heart _XIII_

"When we get our hearts, I'll fill it in, and then that heart will _mean_ something," he whispered, hugging Roxas tightly and burying his face in his hair. "Okay?"

Roxas was a skeptic, he always was, but he merely frowned while Axel couldn't see it. "Okay."

--

390 Words 


	9. Hope

009 – Hope 

--

Axel does more than stalk Roxas for six days. Axel hopes. He follows him, often without the boy knowing, though he can see that suspicious glance he always gives behind him. He knows it well, and he wants to merely grip that disobedient lock and pull his head back and kiss him senseless like he always used to.

He always wants to. He always hopes that Roxas will just look a little harder and see him, expertly hidden in the world that he sticks out in so damn much. He even hopes as the pod opens, Roxas's baby blues glued on the part of him that's been missing.

The part of him that has always plagued him, but Roxas never complains. Axel wished he had complained a little more, but it's all underneath the hope that the blonde will turn away, will come back to him.

And much like his heart, Axel's hopes are nonexistent, or at least they must be, because nothing ever happens, no matter how hard he tries.

--

171 Words 


	10. Pang

_010 – Pang_

--

When Roxas stands in the sandlot with the mysterious redhead acting so smug before him, he is both confused, and a part of him feels a pang of longing that he doesn't understand. He wants to turn and run because for sure this man is lecherous, the way he acts like he _knows_ him, the way he's giving him that _look._

_Love,_ his mind tells him, and he finds that he's a bit cynical and angry about that.

"You love me, but you don't know who I am," he whispers, glaring, and that pang of longing leaves just as suddenly as it came.

--

_103 Words_


	11. Red

_011 – Red_

--

The day Roxas disappeared was the day the Red came; it ran down in racing, raw pinstripes over high, defined cheekbones and a dimple-less, smile-less jaw line. It was wet, warm, and oh, how it had stung.

Axel wanted to rip his eyes out at the first sight of Sora, so much like the blonde who had filled the cavity of his chest. Now he just wanted the pain to stop in his chest, his throat, and the burning paths marked red over his face - his mind. And then he exploded.

But the tears still fell.

--

_97 Words_

Okay... yeah... this is very much pushing it (again). ...I managed 97 out of it, dammit.


	12. Percent

_012 – Percent_

_--_

Roxas hated DiZ with every fiber of his being (which apparently didn't exist). He hated the way he stood so smugly before him, the way that he knew something that he didn't – like Axel, except Axel wanted to tell him and DiZ wouldn't let him. He hated the white room that DiZ had constructed, the way he referred to him as if he wasn't even a person.

Most of all Roxas hated how, as if from that mouth wrapped in crimson, DiZ's voice splayed through his mind, reciting a percentage every so often, a percentage of how much of his mind and soul was usable in this stupid experiment.

"_99 percent."_

Then the world went dark before his eyes, and the last thing he remembered feeling was an intense hatred for DiZ and a hollow, washed out sort of feeling – the feeling of nothing.

--

_144 Words_


	13. Numbers

_013 – Numbers_

--

One was for power, two was for accuracy, three was for velocity, four was for frigidity, five was for brute strength, and six was for intelligence. After that, things were mere adages.

Seven was for mystery, eight was for ferocity, nine was for serenity, and ten was for luck. Luck was all they needed, right? A little luck and maybe a little bit of a push, and they were okay. They were okay, and maybe they didn't need anyone else.

Eleven was for grace, twelve was for warning, and thirteen was for nothing and everything, all at the same time. They told him he was their hope, their light, their last shot at their goal. Thirteen was their demise, their bad luck, the runt of a family of even numbers. Unluckily lucky thirteen.

To Axel, Roxas was everything - to Roxas, everything meant nothing. And when everything meant nothing, what was there to say that they actually existed at all?

Just keep counting, dwindle, dwindle...

--

_165 Words_


	14. Introductions

_014 - Introductions_

--

The first thing that Roxas can remembers when he sifts through the not-so-old memory banks of his mind is a blindly florescent light shining in his eyes and a smell of burnt wood and smoke which came from what he thought then was a blanket.

The next thing he remembers is a voice.

"Vexen, you said he wouldn't last through the night." The voice was cynical, annoyed, and Roxas immediately associated the harsh whine with hatred that he didn't actually know, though the word came to mind.

"Hush! Come look at this..." came another voice, covering up amazement with a hollow, scientific tone. The next thing he hears is a laugh and his blanket is taken, rendering him nude, and thrown over a figure with ridiculously spiky and red hair, who's grinning at him.

"Welcome to the Organization, kid. The name's Axel, got it memorized?"

Roxas decides that right then, he is in love.

--

_156 Words_


	15. Lies

_015 - Lies_

--

Axel was a manipulator, so it made sense that even those who got to know him never trusted his words. Sometimes he didn't care, because he knew he couldn't care, but other times he really wished that he could be believed when he was actually right (like the time the green house had lit on fire because of a drought in the fake world, caused by Demyx's lack of attention and not his obsession with burning things.)

Of all the people in this Organization, of all the skeptics and true believers, Roxas was the one to consistently believe him the least, especially when he actually meant it.

"I love you," he says desperately to cornflower wisps after nights of what he would call making love, but what Roxas calls mindless sex.

"No you don't," Roxas whispers. "Don't tell me that."

Eventually, Axel did stop, and Roxas stopped coming to his room, then stopped coming to meetings, and finally stopped coming at all.

--

_164 Words_


	16. Fragile

_016 - Fragile_

--

Axel always told him that he was delicate, made it seem like he was ridiculously strong whearas his smaller partner was brittle and would break with too much pressure. Sometimes he was joking, but sometimes beneath the blankets with the teasing, he couldn't stand it.

It had made him believe that Axel was infallible. It took him three moments after he left The World That Never Was for the last time to realize that Axel had been afraid of letting him know the truth, that he had been more delicate than Roxas ever was. The whispers of never leaving, of never planning to leave, had meant something.

Had been shattered.

--

_110 Words_


	17. Snow

_017 – Snow­_

--

Roxas was not one to become annoyed easily, but he felt that anyone could understand his irritation at being woken from a warm, soft bed on his one day of the year off, blindfolded, and dragged – still in his pajamas – away from his room and probably away from the castle (he wasn't sure, but they had used a portal to somewhere).

"Where are you taking me," he asked grumpily for what seemed like the thousandth repetitive time.

"You'll see," his captor responded cheerfully, as he had for nine-hundred-ninety-nine times beforehand.

"Axel…" he started with a note of exasperation tinting his voice.

"Roxas…" Axel whined back, his grin dripping from the exaggerated tone and making Roxas wish to punch him in the face.

He wasn't sure what they were walking on; it was firm and solid, but somewhat soft and a bit damp. Axel was steering him in ridiculous directions that were also annoying him, but his natural agility allowed him to keep up with the jerks.

Dramatically, they halted, and Roxas wasn't sure what Axel was doing but a door unhinged and he was pulled inside. It felt like something was attempting to suck his body and soul away from him with force he couldn't recognize. He tried to call for Axel, to scream at him for playing such a cruel prank, but Axel was nowhere to be found.

And when he landed, it was _cold._

"Axel…" he warned, beginning to shiver.

"Yeah, yeah, kid," the redhead murmured while undoing the blindfold and letting the silken, black material fall from his eyes.

Roxas was breathless and speechless at the sight before him. Finally, he spoke, leaning down to scoop some of the ground into his hand.

"I have no memories of snow," he said simply.

Axel nodded. "Enjoy the simple things in life, kid."

--

_304 Words_


	18. Questions

_018 – Questions_

--

Axel, being the smooth-talker he was, was never taken off-guard and was never, ever reduced to a sputtering, blushing mess when he could not come up with something to say as a retort. If the occasion occurred (and he likes to remind people that it's extremely rare), he would merely begin to pull out statistics and the like. They were usually wrong, but no one seemed to care except for Saïx.

"Axel… where do babies come from?"

It only could've been cheesier if he had been drinking coffee and decided to spray it everywhere.

"Um, well…" he started, fully aware that Roxas would not appreciate a bullshitted answer. "They fall from the sky."

"Really?" he asked flatly, sarcastically.

"Yeah," Axel said, smirking. "Heart of parent gets taken; baby falls from sky and into nonexistent world, yep."

"I meant _real_ babies," Roxas said, crossing his arms. "We don't _count._"

"I'm offended," Axel smirked. "But now that you bring that point up, want me to show you?" He stood up, towering over the blonde and placing large, calloused hands over his waist seductively.

"I was hoping you'd say that," the blonde said, mimicking the smirk he saw so often and bringing his arms up around Axel's shoulders.

"Heh."

--

_206 Words_


	19. Mirror

_019 – Mirror_

--

There were perfectly legitimate reasons and excuses for why, among all of Roxas's gracious assets, Axel found him lost in the deep abyss of his eyes most of all. They shimmered in non-emotions all too frequently, catching the light of the moon and reflecting what those hearts would mean.

Or maybe they _were_ his emotions; Axel didn't know, nor did he care.

The shone even when they were masked, across the room and standing out as the brightest pinpricks of color in the meeting room, outshining the flashiest of hair colors. They held promise, whether he meant for them to or not, promise that eventually, they would be free of the chains of emptiness and nothingness and that they would be legitimate beings.

Axel saw himself echoed in those achingly blue orbs, the ache of longing and wanting, but not sure of what they were wanting. They mirrored the smug defiance, the scarcely contained passion of fire that should never have been there in the first place.

They were more alike than perhaps Roxas realized, and with that in mind, they had quickly become friends, only to unravel and fall to the floor in broken, limp threads. But even then, beneath the surface, they were still almost mirror-images.

--

_208 Words_


	20. Touch

_020 – Touch_

--

Roxas had a bizarre notion that his fingertips had more of a heart than he could ever hope to obtain – and had it for far longer, as well. He felt this and confirmed it as he ran them through softly spiky hair, over pale, pearlescent skin marred only by intentional tattoos colored to compliment that fiery mane.

He knew it as he brushed over a calloused, confident hand, interlocking fingers and holding on tight. He knew it as jolts of lightning bolt electricity raced up his spine and made the empty ache in his chest far more pronounced than ever before.

His fingertips could feel love, even if he could not. For that, Roxas was only a tad envious.

--

_119 Words_


	21. Envy

_021 – Envy­_

--

It had seemed like such a good plan at the time. He couldn't keep the smirk off of his face as he approached the gangly girl on the beach, feeling his hips sway in the motion of a trickster, the manipulator that he was.

"Maybe… waiting isn't good enough."

Oh, but didn't he know? "My thoughts exactly!" he proclaimed, announcing his presence, still smirking – always smirking. As he appeared, he reveled in the surprised look gracing the girl's delicate features before continuing. If you have a dream, don't wait – act. One of life's little rules, got it memorized?"

"Who are you?" she sputters, and Axel wasn't mean; he told her. Axel also wasn't nice, and he knew full well that he had slipped in a taboo name into his introduction.

"Sora?" she asked.

And suddenly, in that tone, Axel saw something in that girl, scarcely half his size but with the willpower fierce as either of her two childhood companions. Before he could stop himself, he blurted, "We've got something in common, Kairi. You and I both miss someone we care about. Hey, I feel like we're friends already."

_But_ his mind whispered. _At least you will get yours back._

--

_200 Words_


	22. Boredom

_022 – Boredom_

--

They fall into position well, Roxas starting a kiss and sliding into his lap and Axel reciprocating strongly, wrapping strong hands around slim hips. Roxas yields away, letting Axel control him, dominate him, and Axel doesn't mind, because he's greedy and loves to reap the sweet taste of promise from that hot, pink mouth.

It goes further, predictable in every move, in every sweep of tongue against skin. Axel always slides his mouth down Roxas's neck to nibble on his collarbones, and goes back up, his hands making the same motions on his chest.

Axel's okay with it.

Roxas, however, is bored.

--

_102 Words_


	23. Control

_023 – Control_

--

Axel's always laughing at him as he lays shivering beneath the paler body, needy with moans and whimpers. His eyes mock him, but drink in the glory, revel in the control.

"What's the matter, Roxy?" he croons. "Can't keep at it long enough to get inside me?" His voice is seductive, but it's mocking him nonetheless.

"I know ways to control you without sticking anything of mine into you," he murmurs, pouncing up and straddling Axel's hips hungrily. He rides him so hard and fast that Axel doesn't know what's hitting him, but eventually all he can do is lay back and scream for more, for Roxas to move harder, faster.

He's begging. It's music to the blonde's ears.

And when it's all over, Roxas leaning over Axel much like the positions were vice versa not that long ago except more awkward because of their difference in size, he smirks, getting down close and whispering into his ear.

"I told you so."

--

_162 Words_


	24. Forgiveness

_024 – Forgiveness_

--

I watched.

I could do little more than that, unable to twitch hands that were no longer my own or move a jaw that had a different shape from mine, or even pour any emotions into the whole thing, because I didn't have any.

But _he_ did. They were blocked off from me with an invisible lock, and now I was two keyblades absent, three thousand emotions gone, and watching my best friend disappear.

He wasn't dying. He was disappearing. He didn't want to _die,_ and so he wasn't. Axel was always like that, so said the part of my mind that remembers him. This was the part of my mind that was feigning emotion so flawlessly, that was making my spiritual chest tighten with unbidden feelings.

"I wanted to see Roxas."

I think my non-emotions were so strong that Sora was beginning to feel them. I could sense his confusion, slight anger, and his unsaid confirmation of his own name, but something told me that he could sense my sorrow, as well.

"I'm sorry," I wanted to shout. "I remember now," I wanted to say. I wanted to go back in time.

There was a hesitation, an awkward, choking silence before he spoke again, telling Sora how to get to his precious Kairi. I didn't even want to see Namine at that moment, though I had missed her and had millions of questions to ask. And by the time I could run through this, he was fading, fading so quickly that I couldn't blink, wouldn't blink.

The last wisps to go were his eyes, so vibrant, so cruelly mocking even in death. And yet, as they dissolved, disappeared, died, whatever he wanted them to do, they were staring straight through Sora.

Straight through me, too. But they left a message in their wake.

_I forgive you._

--

_307 Words_


	25. Courage

_025 – Courage_

--

I'm not afraid anymore. Not that I could feel fear in the first place, but you know, now I'm less afraid than I was before.

I guess that makes me just a little more numb, but I don't care. I'm actually feeling sort of nostalgic, sort of high off of a non-life that I could never really grab hold of in the first place. The feeling started not all that long ago, not all that long ago when he just walked away and left me there.

He left me alone, and he tore whatever was left of my heart with it. Not that I can blame him. Maybe I would've done the same in his place, maybe not.

I'm not afraid. Why should I be? It's a great day, you see.

It's a great day to die.

Are you ready, Sora? I'm coming for you, got it memorized?

--

_148 Words_


	26. Manipulate

_026 – Manipulate_

--

The first time he saw the blonde in Twilight Town, he threw up. He didn't know why, but the mere sight of the object of his search was enough to pull him over the edge, his body quivering and his mind on overload.

Fear, he thought. He was afraid.

Fear didn't cause pain. Roxas caused pain.

He was fear-hurt, then. That's what he'd call it. It was a mask, a mask to hide the truth…

Axel wanted to know why he felt so manipulated.

--

_84 Words_


	27. Victory

_027 – Victory_

_--_

Keyblades clicked threateningly, the cacophony of metal versus metal ringing in the stale air to constitute as actual speaking. The questions rang through the air in this manner, and were answered in the same way with parries and blocks and accusing jabs.

One was blinded by passion, fury, and a seemingly endless confusion. The other was aided by a new insight to the future of his kind. The outcome was obvious.

With Sora's keyblade faltering first, he pinned his own to the brunette's tanned throat, glaring at him with as much of the emotions he had acquired during his stay in the hero's soul as possible. "Enough of you," he said emptily. The mental world around them disappeared, and all that was left behind was he, now re-clad in his masquerade costume, complete with the hood pulled over his unkempt hair, and the keyblade that his other had used.

He had a moment of solemn silence before it hit him like a freight train that despite his victory, he was now stuck in a rut. He hadn't even the slightest indication where the girl who had his answers was, DiZ was hopefully too dead for him to exact revenge upon, the Organization who complete blame could be placed upon would still be looking for him, and for sure they would find ways to bring him back into captivity and punish him for his traitorous actions…

And his best friend, his lover, the only nobody he had ever truly lived for was already dead.

In that instant, Roxas wished he never had emotions so he could use the excuse that nobodies didn't cry and it was just the rain. But he knew better.

--

_282 Words_


	28. Passion

_028 – Passion_

--

If one really looked back on the whole scenario, whether or not they used their stubborn, faltering logic that nobodies couldn't feel, there were quite a few details to prove that, indeed, based on elemental design, the "genetic" make-up of a nobody dictated that certain emotional attributes were to be rather strongly imitating human emotion.

In the most common example, fire stood for passion. The fire passionately devoured anything in its path, like a mindless killing machine, but let the light wrap him around his little finger. He was by no means avoidant, but when betrayed or put out with the right method, retreated back as far as it could while still maintaining a healthy glow.

The light, as the other side of this example, was meant to shine with everything that was true and clarifying. It revealed the truth in all, and could never lie, even if the methods of obtaining it were fake and artificial.

To mix the fire and the light together would indeed result in something brimming with passion and all of its trimmings, and not even the most skeptical of humans can deny that.

--

_189 Words_


	29. Breathe

_029 – Breathe  
_

Sora only encountered Axel a number of times before the redhead faded away, but for that, he found that he was glad. Sora had discovered that the redhead invoked strange feelings deep within him, the same ones that showed a certain fondness for the sea salt ice cream he occasionally saw and gave him déjà vu at inopportune moments.

When Sora saw Axel, it felt like his breath had stopped in his throat. The words he said were choked, forced. His motions were suddenly not his own. It was like he was out of it, but he was still perfectly capable.

Once Axel was gone, Sora could breathe again, but even he knew that wasn't something to be cheery about. He could breathe but the air just tasted stale.

_129 words_


	30. Hollow

_030 – Hollow  
_

He was now a spirit, in every aspect of the word. The only difference between a spirit and a ghost, he decided, was that a spirit was not free to move, shackled to another's body that was not so much another at all but his own. He was sure there was a specific term for it…

Oh, wait. Of course: Nobody.

Nonetheless, he had a translucent, watery version of his own being within Sora's. They connected at the spiritual heart; a bond so tight that only a being like the heartless could ever separate them again, force him back into a meaningless existence.

Though this was not much better. He could feel, and he could affect what Sora could feel, but when he clenched his fists, he could feel them clench and then his fingers fall through his palm. When he looked down to observe, Sora's hands remained slack. He could feel when Sora clenched his fists and his own remained slack, the empty feeling of his invisible body out in the cold, open air, vulnerable yet protected by the strongest force in the worlds.

Perhaps it disturbed him most when he cried, because such an action could only be triggered by the heart, so when his hand rose to wipe them away, he saw Sora's raise too and wipe real tears away from his real face.

They both agreed: It hadn't had to have been this way.

_238 words_


	31. Hallucination

_031_ – Hallucination

Axel knew something was very wrong with him the moment he met Roxas. He kept thinking about the tiny blonde, thinking about the way he moved, his large, innocent eyes… everything.

When he got sent off to Oblivion and saw Sora, he thought he was hallucinating, though he knew the story behind Sora and Roxas. It took a lot of effort to not pretend he was his blonde friend and take him there on the white tile. However, he got over this and his fears of hallucinating.

Once Roxas really was Sora again, Axel was sure he was perfectly sane when he saw only the blonde in the real keyblade master. It was perfectly okay that Sora's words were in Roxas's voice – things the boy would never say, but that was okay because it was _Roxas's voice_.

He wanted more. He needed to see Roxas more, more, more.

His selfishness cost him; Axel knew it would eventually. He knew it was costing him as he felt himself dissolve but was grateful that his eyes remained intact for so long. At least he could die gazing upon his love, he thought.

After that idea, there wasn't enough time to consider the fact that he couldn't love before he dissolved completely. In a way, he had beaten out the common rule of the Nobodies, and he had done it in a perfectly insane way.

_232 words_


	32. Leisure

i _032 – Leisure /i _

Days off were rare when you worked a job that had you living on-site, had absolutely no insurance benefits, and you didn't need a resume to get into. On top of that, they worked you to death (literally in the cases of those in Oblivion). Axel was set on enjoying it, and he would make sure that Roxas would, too.

"So where are we going?" the blonde asked, pouty because Axel wouldn't tell him the other times he asked.

"The beach," the redhead said, surprising him. "You like the beach."

"I do?" This was news to him.

"Yeah. You'll see," Axel said. "You'll see."

When they emerged, Roxas found immediately that he was right. The sky was the clearest, cleanest shade of blue he could've ever imagined, mirroring his eyes almost as well as the pure, blue sea.

"You were right," he murmured.

"I always am," came the cheeky reply.

i _150 words_ /i 


	33. Abandoned

_ i 033 – Abandoned /i _

They had roughed out the rough, rough life of living in The World That Never Was together. After Roxas came, there was no such thing as a prank performed by one of them that the other was not involved in. They were never seen apart. They were practically one.

The observers were not the only one to believe this.

"Don't ever leave me, man," Axel said one night as they looked to the stars. They had just finished laughing over a particularly cruel prank involving putting bleach in Saix's shampoo. It seemed like the right thing to say.

"Why would I ever?" Roxas said cryptically, gazing out at the sky. He knew it was a lie even as he said it and didn't meet Axel's gaze, though the redhead hadn't noticed at the time.

"You liar," Axel hissed, weeks later, crumpled in a fetal position in his bed. "You left me."

And for the first time in a long time, he only felt like half a person.

i _167 words_ /i 


	34. Longing

_034 – Longing_

He had found him, found him at last. Axel sat crouched in a dark corner, peeking from behind a building as he watched his prey move gracefully, wielding the foam bat just as well as he had his much bulkier keyblades. He could only stare, entranced by the form he thought was gone forever.

Though in a way, he had been told, he had been. Not that he would believe that for now.

When the battle was over, Axel wasn't surprised in the slightest to find that Roxas was the winner, and he gave a neat little smirk. Then the blonde and his friends (surrogate friends, he liked to think protectively. He was his real friend) walked down the alley, talking casually. He slunk back into the shadow, praying they wouldn't turn.

When they continued walking past him, he let out a silent sight of relief. Then, he continued to watch Roxas's retreating back (much more colorful now). Softly, almost nostalgically, he whispered, "Hello, I miss you quite terribly."

_169 Words_


	35. Temptation

_035 – Temptation_

"Please! Just tell me!"

Sora had the biggest, most Roxas-y pair of blue eyes Axel had ever seen. And he was about three seconds from giving in. Tilting his head back, Axel chastised himself.

Do not give in. Do not give in. Do not give in.

"Look," he started begrudgingly.

How could he resist Roxas?

_55 words_


	36. Accident

_036 – Accident_

--

"It's just a scrape, Axel," he kept persisting, but his red haired mentor jumped at any kind of opportunity to coddle him and there was no convincing him otherwise this time.

"Scrapes don't bleed," Axel protested. "They just look like they've bled!"

"They bleed," he pointed out. "That's why there's dry blood later on."

"Well, this isn't a scrape," Axel said, finishing the bandage around the blonde's knee and giving said knee a kiss. "This will make it all better!"

Roxas sighed, playing along, and pulled down his pant leg. He went to stand up but Axel made a noise of protest and pushed him back now.

"You can't walk on that!" he demanded.

"But I want to go to my room," Roxas said, annoyed. Before he knew it, he had been picked up and tossed casually over Axel's shoulder. He protested weakly, but there was no stopping a determined redhead. "This isn't the way to my room," he said finally.

"We're taking the long way," Axel said. So he could hold Roxas a little while longer.

--

_177 Words_


	37. Surrender

_037 – Surrender_

--

A week after Roxas leaves for good, Axel discovers that he's sick. For the last seven days he had stayed far, far away from the boy's former room, taking routes out of the way and afraid to use the dark portals because since his mind was always on the blond, it would just take him to the door he stayed far, far away from.

On day eight, he snaps.

He shoves past a very confused looking Vexen, scattering his tray of test tubes and samples without so much as an apology and races down the hall to the cold and unused door. He's not surprised to find it unlocked, though he probably should be in a more logical state and he flings himself to the bed before he loses all control and sobs, because the room hasn't been touched and the covers are as unkempt as Roxas would always leave them, strewn about the mattress and the floor.

He sobs into the pillows, breathing in the scent he misses so much and his mind clouding. Fifteen minutes later, he doesn't know how his pants got undone or when he had gotten hard, but the pillow case is stripped from the pillow and around his cock as he pumps himself furious, Roxas's name a prayer on his tear-moistened lips.

When he releases, instead of an afterglow, he just feels sick, like he's just made love to a memory. When he rights his clothing and leaves, the pillow case soiled and crumpled with the rest of the covers on the bed, he's decided he's had enough. He's going to find Roxas. Next time, it'll be the real thing.

--

_276 Words_


	38. Dates

_038 - Dates_

* * *

Roxas had just managed to get himself settled in one of the overstuffed chairs of the library with a good book - it had taken him awhile to find one. Sighing, the boy flicked through the pages in content, grateful for the savory quiet that fell throughout the room. 

And then the door banged open.

He saw the bright spikes of Axel's hair and groaned slightly, not really in the mood for his boyfriend's energetic nature, though he didn't say anything.

"Guess what today is?"

Roxas thought about it carefully. It wasn't there anniversary, which was sometime next month. It wasn't Axel's birthday, sometime in July. It also wasn't his own birthday, also next month. There were no other important dates that he could think of. "I don't know," he said boredly, thinking if he gave in quickly he'd leave him back to his book.

"It's our day," Axel said with a grin, leaning down and cuddling his face into the blonde's neck. Roxas glanced over at him.

"Axel, our anniversary's next month."

"No!" the redhead said, straightening and sitting down next to the object of his affections. "It's August 13th."

"What's August 13th?" Roxas asked, confused.

"What month of the year is August?" Axel continued, beginning to beam.

"...Eighth..." Roxas told him, not sure where this could go.

"What's today?"

"The thirteenth..." He still looked lost. Axel sighed and shook his head, standing up and ruffling the blonde's cowlick.

"It's 8-13, dumby." And then he whisked away. Roxas had a new appreciation for Axel's clinginess after that

* * *

_246 Words_


	39. Coloring

_039 - Coloring_

* * *

Despite the epitomy of his element, that he encompassed all that was light, Axel thought that Roxas looked the best in clothing colored the deepest of black. His skin wasn't quite pale, kind of milky and tanned at the same time, but the darkness made him look like porcelain.

And against this porcelain, his eyes were like two sapphires embedded in a perfect skull, topped with hair of silk and pink lips. When they patrolled together, it was all he could do to not take the boy against the wall. But if he forced himself not to stare, that would just be too much.

"Axel, why do you keep staring at me?"

...Or maybe he should've exercised that, too.

"You're gorgeous in black," the redhead said with that mischievous smirk he flashed coy looks with before turning and walking down another alley in a flurry of dark leather. Roxas only stared after him_  
_

* * *

_149 Words_


End file.
